Chris Horner wins 2013 Vuelta a Espana

Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) won the final stage of the 2013 Vuelta a Espana with a dominant sprint finish, while Chris Horner (RadioShack-Leopard) finished an incident-free day safely in the bunch to complete victory in the overall classification.

The podium is rounded off by Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), while Ireland’s Nicholas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) placed fifth.

Matthews was comfortably the quickest in the final sprint on the streets of Madrid, holding off Tyler Farrar (Garmin) by a bike length. Niklas Arndt (Argos-Shimano) could only manage third despite the impressive work of his team, who were first around the vital final corner and supplied their sprinter a slick lead out.

There haven’t been many bunch sprints this Vuelta – reflected by the fact that a climber, Alejandro Valverde, won the points jersey – but the few stages that have ended this way have been dominated by the Australian Matthews, who back in the first week outsprinted the rest of the field to win stage five. At just 22 years of age, we can expect yet greater things from him in the future, with a start at next year’s Tour de France a possibility.

As a pan-flat circuit around the streets of Madrid, the final stage was virtually nailed on for the sprinters, but that didn’t stop Alassandro Vanotti (Astana) and the compulsive attacker Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) from trying their luck. The pair opened up a gap of around 30-40 seconds but never looked like staying clear, and were eventually caught with five kilometres to go.

The catch was made with Sky’s train at the front of the peloton, and with strength in numbers it briefly looked as though the British-based team were going to lead out Edvald Boasson Hagen into the finishing straight, but they faded and the Norwegian missed out on the top ten.

Instead, Argos-Shimano took control in the final few hundred metres, but Matthews’ speed was such that no one could come close.